Automatic sash-fastener



H. WILO IG SASH PA OX. STENBR.

. (No Model.)

. TI I AUTO Patented Apr. 9, 1895 NITED STATES PATENT FFICEG,

THEODORE B. WILCOX AND HENRY WILCOX, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

AUTOMAT|C SASH-FASTENER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 537,258, dated April 9,1895.

Y Application filed December 20, 1894. Serial No. 532.489. (No model.)

"o all whom it may concern:

Be itknown that we, THEODORE B. WILCOX and HENRY WILCOX, citizens of theUnited States, residing' at Newark, in the county of Essex and State ofNew Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inAutomatic Salsh-Fasteners; and we do hereby declare the following to bea full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as willenable others Skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe same.

Our invention relates to a novel automatic sash fastener, adapted to actby gravity in such a manner as to look together the upper and lowersashes of a house window whenever the said sashes are, respectively,pushed up and pulled down to their extreme limit. In other words, ourdevice acts to lock the sashes together automatically whenever thewindow is completely closed.

The invention further relatos to means for securing the actual bindingtogether of the window sashes in the act of looking them, the

r object being to secure a firm union of the two the lower sash of awindow.

and thereby prevent all unpleasant rattling, and consists in theconstruction substantially as hereinafter described and claimed.

Our invention will be clearly understood by reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation and partsection of our improved sash fastener applied to a house window, theparts being shown as they appear when the sashes are locked together.Fig. 2 is a similar view, showing the parts as they appear when thelower sash is sorhewhat raised.

In Figs. 1 and 2, A is the upper sash and B On the top of the lower sashwe mount a frame C consisting chiefly of two upright platos which formthe bearing for a shaft D on which a catch E is mounted. The said catchE is made heavier at its inner end than at its outer end, for whichreason it will, when liberated, assume the position illustrated in Fig.2. Atits said inner end, it is formed into a yoke e and at its outer endit is provided with a jaw e.. The part which we have called the jaw isnot necessarily a toothed surface but it may be simply roughened forfriction purposes.

With the gravity catch E co-operaie two other parts which, together withthe said catch, constitute, practieally,- the whole sash fastener. Oneof these parts is the trip F pivoted at fand having a tooth or pointwhich is adapted to engage with the jaw e. The trip itself is weightedso as normally to rest upon a stop f, but its heavier outer end can belifted with the hand to remove the trip from the said stop and thus todisengage the jaw e and the trip point. The other part which cooperateswith the catch E is a 1ug G supported upon a standard H. In practice wemay employ two standards, with the part G constituting a cross barbetween them. This is the arrangement illustrated in Fig. 1 in smalldetail.

The part G, whether a lug or a cross bar, is preferably curved on itslower side and provided on its upper side with a notch whereby a. pointis formed at g, Which point is in a po sition to be engaged by or toengage one point of the yoke-e, according as the lower sash is moveddown from the position shown in Fig. 2 or the upper sash is moved upfrom the said position.

Suppose, now, that the sashes occupying the position illustrated in Fig.2 are moved (one or both of them) so as to bring the window to a closedposition. Assume that the right hand sash is moved downward. In thatcase the point of the yoke e will catch over the point g, and the innerend'of the catch E will be raised with relation to its outer end, whilethe 1atter will descend into engagement with the point of the trip F.The parts will then occupy the position illustrated in Fig. 1 and willbelocked together so that it will not be possible to raise the lower sashor to lower the upper sash by simply pressing up or down ner end of thecatch E will descend and the trip F can then bc released by the hands tobe brought by gravity to its rest upon the stop f. XVe prefer to arrangeit so that the trip will at once take care of itself as soon as itsouter end has been lifted, this act serving to throw the trips outer endto the left of the axis or pivotfand leave it in the range of motion ofthe jaw e, whereby the trip will be thrown back by the descent of thecatch E, or rather, by the ascent of the outer end of the said catch.The trip is brought to rest by the engagement of a heel h on the lowerside of the said trip with the stop f when the said trip is thrown overfor re1easing the catch. i Having described our invention, we claim- 1.An automatic sash fastener comprising a Ing or bar forattachmentto onesash, a pivoted weighted catch for attachment to the other sash andhaving a yoke to engage said Ing or bar automatically as the window isclosed, and a pivoted weighted trip or pawl, the lighterends of saidcatch and trip having means for automatically intcrlocking,substantia1ly as described.

2. An automatic sash fastener comprising a pivoted gravity catch forattachment to a sash frame and havinga roughened or toothed edge, and apivoted weighted trip or paw1 having a tooth or point adapted to engagethe said catch, both the catch and the trip having their pivots carriedby the same base plate, stops being provided for limiting movement ofthe trip, and the catch being adapted to engage a log or bar on themeeting rail of the sash.

In testimony whereot we have signed our names, in the presence of twowtnesses, this 15th day of December, A. D. 1894.

THEODORE B. VVILCOX. HENRY VVILCOX.

YVitnesses:

C. L. BELCHER, CHARLES M. CATLIN.

